10 Best Household Tips of 2009

Save time, money and sanity with these easy changes

By Arianne Cohen

1. Pop those plastic wrap and foil box tabs! Rolls of aluminum foil or plastic wrap seem to always fall out of the box. It turns out that there’s a solution built right in: Check the ends of the box for a little tab, which you punch in to lock the roll in place. Major brands like Reynolds as well as most generic brands have the tab. Who knew?

2. Close your closets. If the doors are open, you’re paying to cool or heat your closets—which keeps your air conditioner and heater chugging more, especially in homes with many closets. Also close any vents inside closets. No need to be paying to heat your shoes.

3. Order cords online. Electronics cords are generally two-thirds cheaper online. For example, the same speaker cord for an iPod is $30 in the store, but can be found for as low as $9 online.

4. Test for microwave safety. How do you know if passed-down plates are microwave-safe? If the dishes are painted, fragile or plastic, skip the microwave. For ceramic or glassware dishes, take a bowl, put two ounces of water in it, and put it in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. If the dish is hot to the touch (be careful!), it’s not microwave-safe. If it’s cool to the touch, you can use it in the microwave.

5. Recycle phone books carefully. Your old phone book looks like it can be tossed in with the rest of the mixed paper recyclables, but it can’t. The fibers in thin phone book paper are too short to be recycled into new paper, and can ruin a whole batch of mixed paper recycling. Instead, wait for your local township’s phone book pickup, or call AT&T ReDirectory Helpline, 800-953-4400, which lists phone book drop-offs by zip code.

6. Just say “no” to metal water bowls. Never leave a metal water bowl outside for your pet—cats’ and dogs’ tongues can get stuck to the metal at relatively cool temperatures, while the metal can get very hot in the sun.

7. Find the perfect contractor in one phone call. Everyone has a friend who complains a lot, and that is just the person to ask for referrals for electricians, plumbers, handymen and exterminators. Why? Because difficult people have high standards, and if they say that a contractor does a quality, affordable job, you can rest assured that the suggested contractor is the best around.

8. Dilute, dilute, dilute. Want to save money? “Many commercial cleaning products are purposely made too strong, so that you don’t have to work too hard,” says Barbara Roche Fierman, founder of New York’s Little Elves, a cleaning company. “I suggest diluting whatever products you’re using, green or not. You’ll extend the life of the product, and the life of whatever you’re cleaning.”

9. Put old pieces of carpet under heavy appliances or furniture. Everyone drops socks under the washing machine, or loses a pen that rolls under the desk into a hard-to-reach corner. Take an old piece of chair mat or carpet, cut it up and slide it under the appliance or furniture. Anytime something falls, simply pull it out, with your lost item on it.

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